1. Crusaders2. Jaguares to take SA Conference3. Brumbies to take Oz Conference4. Hurricanes5. Rebels6. Sharks7. Highlanders, (Last 2 home games against SA opposition who tend not to travel well)8. (Here is the controversy) The Blues. They have the Bulls at Home, and the Reds away. This leaves a match up against the Canes in the last round, which in all probability, will have no bearing on the Hurricanes place in the log, and may be an opportunity to rest players before the finals, especially with the Crusaders having a bye in the final round.

Last edited by kiwidutchie on Sun Jun 09, 2019 2:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

1. Crusaders2. Jaguares to take SA Conference3. Brumbies to take Oz Conference4. Hurricanes5. Rebels6. Sharks7. Highlanders, (Last 2 home games against SA opposition who tend not to travel well)8. (Here is the controversy) The Blues. They have the Bulls at Home, and the Reds away. This leaves a match up against the Canes in the last round, which in all probability, will have no bearing on the Hurricanes place in the log, and may be an opportunity to rest players before the finals, especially with the Crusaders having a bye in the final round.

Highlanders might still make the play-offs but the Blues have a lot to do given they are currently 13th. I think only two Kiwi teams will make the play-offs

1. Crusaders2. Jaguares to take SA Conference3. Brumbies to take Oz Conference4. Hurricanes5. Rebels6. Sharks7. Highlanders, (Last 2 home games against SA opposition who tend not to travel well)8. (Here is the controversy) The Blues. They have the Bulls at Home, and the Reds away. This leaves a match up against the Canes in the last round, which in all probability, will have no bearing on the Hurricanes place in the log, and may be an opportunity to rest players before the finals, especially with the Crusaders having a bye in the final round.

Highlanders might still make the play-offs but the Blues have a lot to do given they are currently 13th. I think only two Kiwi teams will make the play-offs

Only 7 points are separating 5th and 13th at the moment, and there's still a bit of rugby to be played. The Highlanders have their last few games at home, and the Blues should be able to beat the Reds. The game between the Bulls and the Blues should be pivotal, especially if the Highlanders beat the Bulls this week.

1. Crusaders2. Jaguares to take SA Conference3. Brumbies to take Oz Conference4. Hurricanes5. Rebels6. Sharks7. Highlanders, (Last 2 home games against SA opposition who tend not to travel well)8. (Here is the controversy) The Blues. They have the Bulls at Home, and the Reds away. This leaves a match up against the Canes in the last round, which in all probability, will have no bearing on the Hurricanes place in the log, and may be an opportunity to rest players before the finals, especially with the Crusaders having a bye in the final round.

Highlanders might still make the play-offs but the Blues have a lot to do given they are currently 13th. I think only two Kiwi teams will make the play-offs

Only 7 points are separating 5th and 13th at the moment, and there's still a bit of rugby to be played. The Highlanders have their last few games at home, and the Blues should be able to beat the Reds. The game between the Bulls and the Blues should be pivotal, especially if the Highlanders beat the Bulls this week.

Highlanders and Chiefs only have two games left, the rest of the teams 5 to 13 have 3 games making it tough for the Clan to make up points.

If blues can win their next two I’d back them to beat Canes in Welly in the last round. Canes will be in SA the previous week and as mentioned resting players may be a higher priority as they will likely be locked in at 4th no matter what result

If blues can win their next two I’d back them to beat Canes in Welly in the last round. Canes will be in SA the previous week and as mentioned resting players may be a higher priority as they will likely be locked in at 4th no matter what result

If that happens, the Blues may even end up in 7th spot, and off to Buenos Aires for the quarters, especially if the Highlanders win their last 2.

So, After the weekend, and with games to come, I think we will see the following.

1. Crusaders2. Jags3. Brumbies4. Canes5. Stormers6. Lions7. Highlanders8. Either Bulls or Chiefs. Bulls have a better points differential, if either team manages to snag a winning bonus point, or the Bulls have a close loss, this will make the difference, so I would probably opt for the Bulls in this one. That last bombed try from the Chiefs last night may well come back to bite them.

Jags 2nd with a home game v the Sunwolves to come. Expect them to finish on 51 points

brumbies with the Reds at home will have no bearing on the final result. They will top the OZ conference, probably with 48 points.

Canes have 4th sewn up and should rest players wherever possible.

Bulls have the Lions at home. Here’s where things get interesting. The winner of this game will go through, if the Lions win, and the Bulls get a BP, both will go through. If the Bulls get no points, then they will be sweating on other results. A Draw will see both teams through.

Similar with the Stormers and Sharks, a win will see either side through, although a Draw will have both teams sweating, and a loss will knock that team out.

The Rebels have the Chiefs. Now if the Chiefs win, with a BP, they will be on 36 points, and probably squeak in 8th.

The Highlanders may also end the same number of points, but with fewer wins.

Given travel for some of the SA teams, I would expect the lions and Stormers to win. So our semi finalists will be

Ridiculous teams this shithouse are playing finals footy. Just make it top 5 FFs

Yeah, the fact that more than half the teams in the comp get to play finals Rugby is a joke. Like the ill-concieved conference system and the way the ladder works, these were revenue raising ideas that had unintended negative consequences.

1. Crusaders2. Jaguares to take SA Conference3. Brumbies to take Oz Conference4. Hurricanes5. Rebels6. Sharks7. Highlanders, (Last 2 home games against SA opposition who tend not to travel well)8. (Here is the controversy) The Blues. They have the Bulls at Home, and the Reds away. This leaves a match up against the Canes in the last round, which in all probability, will have no bearing on the Hurricanes place in the log, and may be an opportunity to rest players before the finals, especially with the Crusaders having a bye in the final round.

Jags 2nd with a home game v the Sunwolves to come. Expect them to finish on 51 points

brumbies with the Reds at home will have no bearing on the final result. They will top the OZ conference, probably with 48 points.

Canes have 4th sewn up and should rest players wherever possible.

Bulls have the Lions at home. Here’s where things get interesting. The winner of this game will go through, if the Lions win, and the Bulls get a BP, both will go through. If the Bulls get no points, then they will be sweating on other results. A Draw will see both teams through.

Similar with the Stormers and Sharks, a win will see either side through, although a Draw will have both teams sweating, and a loss will knock that team out.

The Rebels have the Chiefs. Now if the Chiefs win, with a BP, they will be on 36 points, and probably squeak in 8th.

The Highlanders may also end the same number of points, but with fewer wins.

Given travel for some of the SA teams, I would expect the lions and Stormers to win. So our semi finalists will be

CrusadersJaguares BrumbiesHurricanes LionsStormersBullsChiefs.

The chiefs missing that bonus point in fiji would that have made any difference?

Who woulda thunk that the Chiefs have a chance to make the play offs going in to the final round? With the last 2 weeks being against the Saders and a Bye, nobody prior to then would've given them a sparrow's fart of a chance.If the Chiefs can pull out a win against the Rebels, and the Stormers get off their asses to beat the Sharks... they're in? (Barring the Highanders getting more bonus points than the Chiefs do in their game against the Tahs)

Who woulda thunk that the Chiefs have a chance to make the play offs going in to the final round? With the last 2 weeks being against the Saders and a Bye, nobody prior to then would've given them a sparrow's fart of a chance.If the Chiefs can pull out a win against the Rebels, and the Stormers get off their asses to beat the Sharks... they're in? (Barring the Highanders getting more bonus points than the Chiefs do in their game against the Tahs)

It's still only a very remote possibility, but one I'll take after the Canberra Calamity earlier in the year.

Would they deserve to be there, though? If they made it they'd be like the Rebels and Stormers in having only won as many games as they'd lost this season. Having finalists with a 50% win record or less is a joke (like the Sharks last year and the Brumbies in 2017)

Who woulda thunk that the Chiefs have a chance to make the play offs going in to the final round? With the last 2 weeks being against the Saders and a Bye, nobody prior to then would've given them a sparrow's fart of a chance.If the Chiefs can pull out a win against the Rebels, and the Stormers get off their asses to beat the Sharks... they're in? (Barring the Highanders getting more bonus points than the Chiefs do in their game against the Tahs)

It's still only a very remote possibility, but one I'll take after the Canberra Calamity earlier in the year.

Would they deserve to be there, though? If they made it they'd be like the Rebels and Stormers in having only won as many games as they'd lost this season. Having finalists with a 50% win record or less is a joke (like the Sharks last year and the Brumbies in 2017)

Lol conference system I think there has been teams with a below 50% win precentage making the NFL play offs while teams who where 9.6 missed out, due to playing in stronger conferences.

Who woulda thunk that the Chiefs have a chance to make the play offs going in to the final round? With the last 2 weeks being against the Saders and a Bye, nobody prior to then would've given them a sparrow's fart of a chance.If the Chiefs can pull out a win against the Rebels, and the Stormers get off their asses to beat the Sharks... they're in? (Barring the Highanders getting more bonus points than the Chiefs do in their game against the Tahs)

It's still only a very remote possibility, but one I'll take after the Canberra Calamity earlier in the year.

Would they deserve to be there, though? If they made it they'd be like the Rebels and Stormers in having only won as many games as they'd lost this season. Having finalists with a 50% win record or less is a joke (like the Sharks last year and the Brumbies in 2017)

Lol conference system I think there has been teams with a below 50% win precentage making the NFL play offs while teams who where 9.6 missed out, due to playing in stronger conferences.

To be fair only the Brumbies of '17 were conference beneficiaries, the team that inevitably slips into the finals this year with a shite record will do so due to the mediocrity of the entire competition rather than the vagaries of the conference system.

Who woulda thunk that the Chiefs have a chance to make the play offs going in to the final round? With the last 2 weeks being against the Saders and a Bye, nobody prior to then would've given them a sparrow's fart of a chance.If the Chiefs can pull out a win against the Rebels, and the Stormers get off their asses to beat the Sharks... they're in? (Barring the Highanders getting more bonus points than the Chiefs do in their game against the Tahs)

Top 4 are nailed. Only variation would be Brumbies overcoming Jaguares if the latter fail to beat the Sunwolves (if Brumbies win without a BP and Jaguares get a losing BP, both teams will have 10 victories and the tie breaker will be points difference - which is currently 67 for Jags and 51 for Brumbies).

But permutations are still way too many to determine their rivals.

If Chiefs beat Rebels, and deny them the losing BP, they are through. If Rebels get a losing BP they stay ahead of Chiefs.But if Chiefs win with a BP, they reach 36 points and are through without depending of other scores, and Rebels are out even with a losing BP.

Waratahs could qualify if they beat Highlanders (if they win without BP they would need the Stormers to lose without getting the losing BP). Likewise, a Highlanders victory sees them overcome the Stormers - and, with a winning BP, the Lions too -

Winners of Bulls - Lions and Stormers - Sharks are through, no matter what. Three of them - not the Sharks - could still lose and qualify, depending on other scores.

A draw in Bulls - Lions sends both teams through.

The Lions can only fail to qualify if they lose without a BP. Getting a single point makes it impossible for either the Chiefs, the Highlanders or the Waratahs to overcome them.

There's even a possible combination of results that could see the 4 SA teams qualifying. If Waratahs beat Highlanders, Chiefs beat Rebels without any kind of BP awarded in the match, and Stormers and Sharks draw, Sharks would be the 8th qualifier.

So, basically, the only match of the last round with nothing at stakes is Hurricanes - Blues...